


can't you feel it burning still?

by artemidos



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: F/M, Grief/Mourning, lil flashback, mexican honeymoon, this was written with me being like haha idiot u don't know whats coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 21:32:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7861873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemidos/pseuds/artemidos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>richie's brother was different now. after everything. specifically – after Kate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	can't you feel it burning still?

**Author's Note:**

> this was written at like 1 am in some sort of weird sethkate induced haze after seeing s3e01. it's centred in canon. i think.

While Richie wasn’t always the most observant or subtle of people, at some point in the last six months, he’d come to a silent understanding about one thing. That was, that his brother was different now. After everything. Specifically – after Kate.

In a way, they were both different, but Seth’s change was something that had rocked him to his core. Seth was tired, in a way that was all consuming. He was taking what good he could from life – specifically, trying to stick by his brother’s side, but it still blew up in his face every fucking time. Months and months of inner turmoil sat inside him, bubbling up and exploding in arguments that didn’t last because he couldn’t blame Richie and Carlos was already dead.

Richie even gone so far as to make note of the changes. _Seth wants to die on a beach now? Seth wants to go to heaven?_

_What does he think waits for him in paradise? Does he think…_

**Kate** – who they all let down. The girl who left the world loathing the three men who thought they were going to protect her. Kate, who was everything good in the world, the only good he had ever come into such close contact with.

Seth kept most of his antagonising angst to himself, reserving it for his moments alone, although at times they felt few and far between.

When he _was_ alone, memories flooded like a tsunami over him, and all he could do was stare out into distance, wave crashing into his mind, attacking his ability to do anything but sit there, paralysed. If only she knew her hold.

Vividly, he remembered one night in particular, the closest thing to admission he’d given her.

He remembered her falling asleep beside him because watching the television on separate beds felt pointless. She wasn’t all that slick, pretending that she couldn’t just get up and go to her own bed, but he didn’t mind when she did it. It was comforting to have her beside him, breathing and alive and warm. Seth wished now that he’d appreciated those qualities more at the time, but hindsight was twenty-twenty.

A movie was playing that he’d not been paying attention to, and the fan whirred slowly above them. He’d have gotten up and turned both the television and fan off, but he was too content there. He slouched against the headboard and stared up at cross hanging by the bathroom door.

And then it happened. She rolled over, groaning in her sleep. Her head was against his side, at his chest and while for a second he’d considered shifting away, but the selfish part of him couldn’t do it. His arm moved from the headboard and instinctively pushed hair out of her face, although it felt like a forbidden act, to touch her, even as innocently as he was. It only made her push closer to him, and in the haze of exhaustion, failure and confusion, he just let her stay. He let himself enjoy her closeness.

Shuffling down on the bed, he pulled the blanket up and his other hand fell against the headboard and slid down as not to disturb her pillow. Even then, it didn’t matter all that much that he had tried, because her face revealed her being at least a little awoken by his moving.

“Seth…” Her voice had been barely above a whisper.

“Go to sleep, kid.” He told her, and she pressed her face into his side, but he could still see her frowning.

At their most tired and defeated, even being vulnerable wasn’t enough to give either of them the strength to say something, and if she did, Seth would only revert back to himself in the morning. Too old, bad for her, whatever excuse was the easiest for her to buy. All of it was true, so it really didn’t fucking matter. She could resent him for it, but it would be what was best for her. Even her being there with him all that time, it was enough to feel guilt.

_You’ll get out of this with any bumps or scrapes._ He had words to honour and little to no other options, and maybe he wanted to be there with her. Maybe even if he couldn’t have what he wanted, he still wanted to take what he could.

Richie never said anything when he entered the room and Seth snapped out of it. There was nothing to say.


End file.
